The Guardian Chronicles 1: Rise of the Phoenix (23 page)

“Sometimes people keep secrets for a good reason,” Ethan finally said. “Maybe he’s protecting someone or something.”

“Lying isn’t protecting,” Elise shot back. “It only hurts people, anyone else that tells you different isn’t looking out for your best interest.”

“And what do we do to the world every day?” Ethan asked. “The Guardians use lies as a shield all the time. Why? Because letting the world know what’s really out there would spell disaster. Telling the truth all the time can be just as dangerous as lying.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment before Everett cleared his throat and spoke. “It doesn’t really matter if Jonathan is hiding something he’s probably hidden his tracks well enough so that we won’t be able to find anything. If he isn’t this is a pointless conversation anyway.”

“I still think that we should look into it,” Tony said. “We’ll probably hit a dead end but it might make all of us feel better.”

“I’ll talk to my friends in the mages,” Everett said, standing up.

Soon, the room had pretty much cleared out, all except for Gabriel and Ethan.

“Are you okay?” Gabriel asked.

“Fine,” Ethan snapped.

“You don’t look like you are fine,” Gabriel remarked. “The way that you and Elise were talking to each other earlier, I thought that it was going to come to blows.”

Ethan snorted in annoyance. “I really do hope Ryan knows what he got himself into. She can be a real pain the ass on occasion.”

“Do you really believe what you just said?”

“What do you mean?”

“About sometimes people keep secrets to protect people,” Gabriel spoke nervously. Gabriel hadn’t had a very serious conversation with Ethan, at least not one so soon after he was so visibly upset about something. He wondered if he would bite his head off or just get up and storm out of the room.

“Yeah,” Ethan nodded slowly. His voice hadn’t taken on the hard or sarcastic edge that Gabriel thought it would. “You don’t think so?”

Gabriel squirmed a little bit in his chair. “No, I don’t think that secrets are healthy, although I can certainly see how someone would think that they were protecting them by not telling them the truth.”

“You do?”

Gabriel nodded again. “Yeah, for a long time I thought I was protecting my family by not being honest with them about who I was. I didn’t realize until later that all I was doing was hurting them and hurting myself.”

“And what about everyone else?” Ethan asked. He gestured around the room. “Do you really think the world would be okay with knowing the fact that all those things that they thought were nothing more than myths and stories were real? How do you think they would react when they found out about vampires, demons, werewolves, magic? Nations would tear each other apart.”

“I know,” Gabriel said. “I’m just saying that when it comes to who and what you are, lying might not be the best path to take. You’re both right though, sometimes not letting the whole truth out is better in the long run. I guess it’s a fine line that we tread.”

“We hold back the darkness,” Ethan said, standing up. “My job is to protect people and if that means that I have to tell the occasional lie to make sure that people are safe than that’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

“That seems to be a rather dark way to look at it.”

“The world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, Gabriel.”

“I know that,” Gabriel sighed.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ethan spoke again.

“You really like him, don’t you?”

“Like who?”

“Alex.”

Gabriel tensed; he had hoped that his last conversation he had with Ethan about Alex would have gotten his point across.

“Yes.”

Ethan blew out a long breath. “And everyone else seems pretty chill about you two dating, which means I’m the guy that’s acting like a jerk.”

“Your words,” Gabriel said with a shrug and a slight smile. “Not mine. You could have come with us the other night, you might have enjoyed yourself.”

Ethan shook his head. “I had other things that I needed to do and watching you and Alex drool all over each other does not count as a wonderful evening in my book. And everyone would be asking me if I was okay...does not sound like fun.”

“Suit yourself,” Gabriel said, starting for the door.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you think that there is someone for everyone out there?”

Gabriel paused. He wasn’t really sure that soul mates existed nor was he sure that everyone had a magic match floating around out there. He had thought long and hard about that very question and sadly hadn’t really come up with an answer. He settled for telling Ethan what he had been able to figure out so far.

“I don’t know if I believe in soul mates if that’s what you are asking,” Gabriel admitted. “Spending your whole time looking for that one perfect person that could complete you means that you are probably missing a lot of people that are standing right in front of you. I don’t know if there is someone out there for everyone but I do think that every once and awhile a person can come along that reminds us of how precious life is.”

“You sound like a hallmark card,” Ethan smirked.

“And you sound like the typical badboy trying to hide his feelings.”

“Trying to be all perceptive?”

“It really wasn’t that large of a leap to make,” Gabriel responded, looking at his watch. “I’m heading over to Alex’s, you want to come along? I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind.”

“No thanks. Have fun.”

Gabriel stopped by his house on the way to Alex’s. He needed to drop off a few things and wanted to check in with Sean and Tim. No doubt they would be getting ready to head to the lake soon. He parked his car and wandered inside, poking his head in various rooms until he found both Sean and Tim in the kitchen, emptying the contents of the fridge.

“With the way you two eat I’m surprised that you aren’t the size of a house by now.”

“Advantages of being a teenager,” Sean said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you what his name is.”

“Whose name?” Gabriel asked.

“Don’t give me that,” Sean snapped, pointing his finger at Gabriel. “You’ve been nothing but smiles for the past three weeks. I’ve never seen you this happy before so, what’s his name?”

“Are you just crushing on him or are you actually seeing someone?” Tim asked.

Gabriel sighed heavily, he wanted to deny everything but he knew that wouldn’t work. Both Sean and Tim were entirely too perceptive, he was surprised that it took them this long to catch on. Part of him was happy that they asked, otherwise he wasn’t entirely sure how to even bring it up. Just shouting out that he was seeing someone seemed like a bad idea on many fronts.

Well, then there was the whole fact that the guy he was seeing was a vampire. He was going to assume that

“Out with it, man!” Tim snapped.

“His name’s Alex,” Gabriel said. “He’s going to be going to Highland this fall with me.”

“More,” Tim stated looking at Gabriel. “I want more than that.”

“Since when are you two so nosy?” Gabriel inquired.

“This is the first guy that you have EVER dated,” Sean shot back. “It’s sort a big deal. Is he hot? I bet he’s totally hot!”

“Maybe you should date him then,” Gabriel responded. “I don’t actually know if we are dating though, I mean we have only hung out a few times…”

“Doesn’t matter,” Sean interrupted. “Do you have a picture of him or anything?”

Gabriel shook his head. He hadn’t asked for a picture or even taken one with the two of them. Somehow it felt rushed and he didn’t want to rush anything with Alex.

“I don’t,” Gabriel said, shaking his head. “We haven’t really been hanging out that long.”

“Pictures,” Tim demanded. “And soon.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I’m not going to go around snapping pictures of him, that’s like totally creepy. I’m trying to keep him around for a while not send him running for the hills.”

“Oh come on!” Sean snapped. “Just tell him that you want to brag about how cute he is to your friends and family.”

“He’s already met most of my friends,” Gabriel pointed out. “And I’m not sure that I am ready to parade him around mom and dad yet.”

“Mom and dad will be thrilled!” Sean exclaimed. “And so will the rest of the family. You deserve to be happy.”

“And I am happy,” Gabriel protested. “I just don’t want to freak him out by moving too fast. I promise you’ll get to meet him.”

“You better,” Sean said, narrowing his eyes at his brother. “Or else I’m going to beat you up.”

“You can try,” Gabriel smirked. “But in case you haven’t noticed I’m not exactly helpless.”

Sean and Tim shook their heads and then left the kitchen. Gabriel smiled at himself and then headed back out to his car. He backed out of the driveway and took off toward Alex’s house, trying to not to dwell on the conversation that he had early with Ethan.  He did have a point, the Guardians had to operate in the shadows or risk plunging the world into chaos. But on a more personal note he felt that you should be honest with those that were close to you. The way that he and Elise were eyeing each other it was clear that whatever happened to end their relationship had something to do with keeping secrets.

He wanted to prod Ethan for more information but decided against it. Instead he left Aegis and headed for Alex’s house, putting all the thoughts about what they had discussed earlier out of his head. He trusted Jonathan, he had no reason not to. Although everyone did bring up a good point. Gabriel shook his head that kind of thinking was only going to drive him nuts.

Alex’s house was situated a several miles outside town on a large acreage. After turning off the highway Gabriel started down gravel road, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him. He had only been to Alex’s house once and was still impressed by the size of it. As he came up the road the house came into view.

It wasn’t as large as Ryan’s house, although Gabriel guessed that it might have something to do with the fact that they wanted to keep a low profile. It appeared to be normal two story farm house with several outbuildings. Gabriel could see Alex’s corvette parked in one of the buildings. The young vampire jogged out of the house as Gabriel pulled up.

He was barely out of the car when Alex wrapped his arms around him and planted a rather passionate kiss on him. Gabriel kissed him back and after a few moments they finally broke apart.

“You missed me,” Gabriel said with a smile.

“Maybe just a little bit,” Alex shrugged.

He was wearing shorts and sleeveless tee-shirt. He also had on his archery gear; the armguard and shooting glove.

“Come on, I have everything all set up,” Alex spoke excitedly and quickly. He nearly tipped Gabriel over as he pulled him around the back of the building.

“Ever fired one of these?” Alex asked, grabbing a bow off a rack. Gabriel took notice of Alex’s bow, which was remarkably like Cody’s. Even down to the brass knuckle on the front. Except it wasn’t brass at all but gleaming blessed metal, just like Cody’s.

“Cody tried to teach me once,” Gabriel responded, with a shrug. “I didn’t really have the patience for it.”

“You haven’t tried it with me yet.”

“Oh is that so?” Gabriel asked.

“Come on,” Alex stated, handing the bow to Gabriel.

Gabriel took the weapon. He had some rudimentary training with the weapon, as did all Guardians but hadn’t really spent all that much time with it. Cody had gone over a few basic moves with him, even showing him how the bow could be used as a melee weapon.

“Alright,” Gabriel said, hefting the weapon. He got a good grip on it, holding it like Cody had taught him. Alex handed him an arrow and Gabriel placed it on the bow, ready to fire.

“Now the key is to take your time,” Alex said, stepping behind him.

“That’s funny,” Gabriel smiled. “Seeing how fast Cody fires, it doesn’t look like he takes his time at all.”

“Oh he does,” Alex said. He turned Gabriel toward the targets sitting down range. “Now, draw.”

Gabriel did as he was told, pulling the string back and sighting up his target. He was pretty sure that he could hit it, even from this distance. He took a deep breath and let the arrow fly. His aim wasn’t terribly, though it wasn’t great either. The arrow buried itself in the target, far away from the center.

“Not too bad,” Alex smiled. “Try it again, this time I’ll help you.”

Gabriel nodded. He flinched slightly when Alex moved up against him. He felt his muscular and athletic frame come into contact with his back and Gabriel had to force himself to calm down. Every time that Alex touched him he felt like he was going to melt into a puddle of goo. Alex placed his hand on Gabriel’s arm guided him into the firing position.

“Take a nice deep breath,” Alex said. His breath tickled the back of Gabriel’s neck and caused goose bumps to appear on his skin. He fought off the shudder that accompanied it. “Alright, let it out slowly and then release.”

Gabriel did as he was told, sending the arrow lancing toward the target again. This time he got a lot closer to hitting the center but was still slightly off.